Firm said to desire 30% Murphy stake
Oil India Ltd. is interested in purchasing about a 30 percent stake in Murphy Oil Corp.’s assets in Malaysia, according to a report Wednesday by Bloomberg News.
People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the stake may be worth $2 billion.
When asked if El Dorado-based Murphy Oil was looking to sell some of its assets in Malaysia, spokesman Barry Jeffery said the company is “looking at portfolio reviews all of the time.”
Jeffery said the reviews are a general look at what holdings are good in the long-term.
More than 40 percent of Murphy Oil’s production in 2013 came from Malaysia, according to the company’s website.
Oil India, which had $2.1 billion in cash at the end of September, is also studying an acquisition of Nigerian oil and gas assets owned by Royal Dutch Shell Plc valued at as much as $2 billion, people familiar with the matter said last week.
- Jessica Seaman
2 banks to release quarterly earnings
Home BancShares and Simmons First National Bank both will release first-quarter earnings today and will conduct conference calls to discuss the results.
Interested parties can access Home BancShares’ conference at 1 p.m., by calling (888) 317-6016 and asking for the Home Banc-Shares conference call.
The call also can be accessed live or in recorded version on the company’s website at www.homebancshares.com.
Simmons’ call at 3 p.m. can be reached by calling (866) 298-7926 and asking for the Simmons First National call or providing the identification number 21404149.
In addition, the call will be available live or in recorded version on the Simmons’ website at www.simmonsfirst.com.
- David Smith
Arkansas Index up as 13 stocks climb
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, gained 3.81 to 331.63 Wednesday.
“U.S. stocks surged higher on Wednesday after U.S. industrial production rose more than expected and better-than-expected earnings from Yahoo and Intel,” said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. “The Arkansas Index moved higher as 13 stocks advanced and four declined.”
Acxiom rose 6.5 percent in heavy trading.
Arkansas Best climbed 3.4 percent in light trading.
P.A.M. Transportation Services slipped 2.2 percent on average volume.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business, Pages 23 on 04/17/2014